Skilfully crafted thriller

In the wake of a terrorist bombing, Egyptian-born chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Metwally) is detained during his flight from Cape Town to Washington D.C.

Under the guise of "extraordinary rendition," he is spirited abroad to a prison facility overseen by Abasi Fawal (Naor). CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Gyllenhaal) observes the subsequent 'interrogation' and is horrified by Abasi's techniques, voicing his concerns to the CIA's head of terrorism, Corrinne Whitman (Streep), to no avail.

Meanwhile, Anwar's pregnant wife Isabella (Witherspoon) tries to locate her missing husband, using her connection to Alan Smith (Sarsgaard), aide to a well-connected senator (Arkin).

Rendition is a skilfully crafted thriller exploring the devastating impact of one rendition on two seemingly unconnected families. Gavin Hood's film addresses the complex political and moral issues with flair, walking that perilously thin line between right and wrong, where an act of brutality could save a life or just as quickly end it.

Scriptwriter Kelley Sane cuts back and forth between the various storylines with aplomb, dropping an almighty narrative bombshell in the closing minutes. This final flourish makes up for some of clumsy writing earlier in the picture.

Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon both disappoint, their characters are blank canvasses, and Streep chews scenery without breaking a sweat as the fierce political beast who coolly confides, "Honey, this is a nasty business."

Disturbing scenes of Anwar's ordeal, including electrocution and water torture, prove that Corrinne is a woman of her word.

North African sequences resonate with far more emotional power, undone by a final sequence back in America that seems too neat by half.

DVD Extras: none stated.

Rating: Three out of five.

The Brothers Solomon (Cert 15, 89 mins, Sony Home Entertainment, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99) Starring: Will Arnett, Will Forte, Lee Majors, Kristen Wiig, Chi McBride, Malin Akerman.

Cerebrally challenged siblings John (Arnett) and Dean Solomon (Forte) have been raised by their domineering father Ed (Majors), who spirited them away to the Arctic and nurtured their curiosity with "home schooling and puppet-based sex education."

As a result, they have a perpetually optimistic outlook on life but no grasp of acceptable social skills, such as the ability to communicate with the opposite sex.

When the old man slips into a coma, the brothers decide the best way to rouse the brute from his slumber is to produce the grandchild Ed always wanted. So they pay surrogate Janine (Wiig) a hefty 12,000 dollars and head for the sperm bank, but parenthood poses myriad sticky problems.

The Brothers Solomon is crass and formulaic, playing like some moronic distant relative of Knocked Up, without any of the sweetness or emotion.

Bob Odenkirk's hare-brained misadventure dilutes what could pass as a risible three-minute sketch into 89 minutes of mindless tomfoolery. Scriptwriter Forte brings at most two giggles to full term: one pertaining to the name of a neighbour's dog, the other a surreal observation during a side-profile ultra-sound of the foetus.

Arnett and Forte essay the Dim and Dimmer of the modern dating scene with relentlessly good cheer but no empathy. A skit about paedophilia and a couple of filthy-minded interludes jar with the puerility of the rest of the film, while a glaring continuity error with a fireside brush and poker provides a welcome distraction from the limp punch lines.

DVD Extras: none stated.

Rating: One out of five.